Skullers Rowing Club competes in Wales, UK

The World Rowing Beach Sprint Championships was held October 14-16th 2022 in Saundersfoot Beach in the Pembrokeshire National Park, Wales, UK. The Beach Sprint is a new up and coming rowing format which consists of shorter and faster sprint-type events in a coastal environment (opposed to flat water). This October event was the third event to be hosted in this category, ever. Coach Michael Knowles and four junior athletes from George Town, Exuma traveled to this event where athletes ages 14-17 competed in a challenging open-seas environment. The Skullers Rowing Club was the youngest team there, adding to the challenge. Two of the athletes were the first Bahamians to ever medal in a rowing event in Peru earlier this year.

The event is unlike other rowing events in that athletes must rely on speed and dexterity. The beach-start entails a 10-50m sprint to the boat, a 250m row-sprint out to a slalom course, a row-sprint back to beach, and a sprint to the finish line.

While the team didn’t win any medals, they were grateful to have taken valuable lessons home from the experience. This is still new and developing event and the team is pacing themselves for long term goals to include more strength training and practices as they prepare for the Commonwealth Rowing Association Championships in Namibia, December 2-4, 2022.

The team is also preparing for several events in 2023 including the Sarasota Invitational in February and the Copa America Championships, which is a major regional event for Central & South America and the Caribbean, held in Lima, Peru.

The Skullers Rowing Club is grateful for the support they receive throughout the year from organizations such as Friends of Exuma, which makes it possible to compete in these international events. Michael Knowles comments “It’s been a struggle to get to this point and it’s gratifying to see things start to pay off. The athletes put in a huge amount of work and are finally starting to see results of their labor.”